Xenia's Public-Private Blend Fosters Early-Stage Medtech

Israel’s Xenia Venture Capital is an early-stage technology incubator with an unusual model for getting medical technologies out of the nest and on the wing. Xenia is a publicly traded firm that invests in private start-ups with the assistance of government funding. The company began in 2003 with a franchise from the Office of the Chief Scientist in Israel. Faced with a glut of PhDs, and one of the world’s most productive cultures in terms of inventing and patenting medical devices—Israel has the highest number of patents per capita—the OCS recognized that Israel was not as good at turning those ideas into strong companies. The OCS accordingly set aside start-up funding to be granted to accredited technology incubators.

Today, 20 incubators operate with grant money from the OCS and such privatized incubators account for more than 50% of...